FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

SOMERS, Wis. (Feb. 5, 2014)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of DeSimone Gymnasium this week, hosting Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division foes William Jewell College and Rockhurst University.

The Rangers begin the week by hosting William Jewell on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. inside DeSimone Gymnasium before closing the homestand on Saturday, welcoming Rockhurst to Wisconsin for a 1 p.m. tip. Saturday's game is Alumni Day at the Games in addition to the squad's annual Pink Game. Live stats, video and audio will be provided for both games. Steve Kratochvil will be providing the play-by-play while Jim Kramer will be adding color commentary on the audio feed available online and on local airwaves on WRJN 1400 AM in southeast Wisconsin.

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (6-13, 2-9 GLVC) returned from its foray into Indiana empty handed, dropping a pair of contests to GLVC East foes despite holding leads in both games.

Against Saint Joseph's College on Jan. 30, the Rangers and Pumas battled back in forth in the opening 20 minutes with five lead changes and four ties. Host SJC enjoyed a 28-22 advantage at the halftime intermission and led by as many as 18 points in the second half. UW-Parkside responded, whittling the gap to just 10 before running out of time, suffering a 62-52 setback.

Two days later, the Rangers had No. 16 University of Indianapolis against the ropes at halftime, owning a 29-24 lead before the Greyhounds outscored UW-Parkside by a 50-13 margin in the second stanza to emerge with the 74-42 decision. The Rangers shot just 19 percent (four-for-21) in the second half while the nationally-ranked Hounds hit 66.7 percent (14-for-21) of their shots from the floor.

Tara Knapstein led the Rangers with 18 points and six rebounds and was the lone UW-Parkside player to finish in double figures on the afternoon.

Gaby Bronson leads the team in several statistical categories, including points per game (13.7), rebounds per game (6.2), assists per game (3.9) and blocks (15). Knapstein sits second on the team in both scoring (12.1 ppg) and rebounding (5.1 rpg) while Danielle Slivka adds 10.6 ppg. Maddie Johnston chips in 8.2 ppg while Sarah Mlachnik adds 6.1 ppg to the cause.

UW-Parkside is one of the best defensive teams in the GLVC, ranking third in the conference in scoring defense, yielding just 63.5 points per game.

Feb. 6 vs. William Jewell College at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Series History: The Rangers and Cardinals met for the first time last season with visiting William Jewell prevailing 64-61 on Jan. 12. 2013-2014 is just the third season of GLVC play for the Cardinals, who were a longtime member of the NAIA prior to joining Division II and the GLVC.

About the Cardinals: William Jewell (8-11, 3-8 GLVC) won eight of its first 12 games but head to Somers looking to break a seven-game skid. The Cardinals won three of their first four GLVC games, including an 84-74 victory over Saint Joseph's on Jan. 9 but have come up empty handed since.

Jewell was in the Saint Louis area last week, falling 78-63 to host University of Missouri-Saint Louis on Jan. 30 before suffering a 90-88 setback to Maryville University on Saturday. The defeat to Maryville was the second two-point defeat for the Cardinals during their recent slump, also faltering 69-67 at Missouri University S&T on Jan. 16.

Chelsea Meeks leads Jewell in scoring, entering Thursday averaging 16.6 points per game along with 3.4 assists per game. Cassy Nicolay adds 12.3 ppg and a team-best 6.5 rebounds per game while Hayli Jo Smith tallies 10.7 ppg. Maddie Nelson contributes 8.6 ppg while Aerial Smith comes in averaging 8.2 ppg and a team-best 3.7 apg.

Feb. 8 vs. Rockhurst University at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Series History: UW-Parkside and Rockhurst have met seven times on the hardwood with the Rangers winning all seven meetings. The Rangers nipped the Hawks 59-57 last season on Jan. 10 inside DeSimone Gymnasium. UW-Parkside led by as many as 17 points but needed a Jaleesa Trussell layup with 44 seconds left to preserve the win.

About the Hawks: Rockhurst (6-13, 1-10 GLVC) heads into Thursday clash with Lewis University looking to bust out of a four-game slump.

The Hawks edged Missouri S&T 70-68 on Jan. 18 but have come up empty in each of the past two weeks, falling to Truman State University (63-52) on Jan. 23, Quincy University (84-76) on Jan. 25, Maryville (81-71) on Jan. 30 and UMSL (60-57) last Saturday.

Mary Dineen leads the Hawks in scoring, averaging 15.5 points per game. Shavonne Brewer adds 10.4 ppg but has not seen the floor since early January while Kendall Hart and Lauren Meyers contribute 10.3 and 10.2 ppg respectively. Meyers additionally leads the team on the glass, grabbing 5.4 rebounds per game.

Alumni Day at the Games: UW-Parkside alumni are encouraged to sign-up for the fourth-annual Alumni Day at the Games hosted by the Alumni Association. The event, which is free to alumni and their families, includes a complimentary tailgate lunch, refreshments, entertainment for children along with a chance to meet Chancellor Debbie Ford and basketball head coaches Luke Reigel and Jacob Yorg. Alumni and their families will additionally be given a complimentary promotional giveaway and free popcorn courtesy of Wheaton Franciscan- All Saints, the Rangers' official sports medicine provider.For more information or to register, please email university.relations@uwp.edu or call 262-595-2404.

Pink Game: For Saturday's game the Rangers will don pink jerseys as part of their annual Pink Game celebration to defeat breast cancer. T-shirts, sweatshirts and other memorabilia will be sold during the game with proceeds benefitting cancer research.

Trivia Night: Put your knowledge of obscure facts to the test on Saturday, Feb. 8 as the UW-Parkside women's basketball team hosts Trivia Night at the Kenosha Country Club. Cost is $25 per person or $200 per team (max 8 players/team). UW-Parkside student pricing is $15 and $120 per squad. For more information contact assistant coach Jordan Wilde at wilde@uwp.edu.

Pod-demonium: The GLVC has broken the two divisions into pods of four for the 2013-2014 season. Pod mates will play each other in a home and home series and play all other opponents once. UW-Parkside's pod includes University of Illinois Springfield, McKendree University and Lewis University.

I Can't Drive 55: The Rangers are 6-0 on the season when holding opponents to under 55 points but are 0-13 when yielding 56 or more points. The stout Ranger defense has allowed just three teams to score more than 74 points, yielding 80 points in the non-conference finale against Michigan Tech University on Dec. 21 while allowing 78 against Maryville University on Jan. 11 and 82 on Jan. 23 against Bellarmine University.

Preseason Prognostications: UW-Parkside is picked to finish fourth in the GLVC East in 2013-2014 according to the league's 16 head coaches. The Rangers accumulated 78 points and one first place nod to secure fourth. Defending Champion Lewis University was picked to win the division with 113 points and 11 first place votes. University of Indianapolis was picked second followed by the University of Southern Indiana. Bellarmine University was picked to place fifth followed by McKendree University, Saint Joseph's College and the University of Illinois Springfield. Out West, Quincy University was selected to win the division with Maryville University, Missouri University S&T and Truman State University rounding out the top four.

GLVC Shuffle: This offseason the 16-member GLVC saw a few tweaks to its membership. Charter member Kentucky Wesleyan College exited the league to join the nascent Great Midwest Athletic Conference with Truman State University from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association filling the void. The addition of Truman moved the University of Illinois Springfield from the West Division to the East Division.

Home Sweet Home: The Rangers have been nearly unbeatable at home in recent years, winning 64 of their last 74 games inside DeSimone Gymnasium. UW-Parkside was 12-4 at home in 2007-08, 10-2 in 2008-09 while finishing 15-1 in 2009-10, 15-0 in 2010-11, 14-1 in 2011-12 and 11-3 in 2012-13.

The Yorg File: Head Coach Jacob Yorg became the program's sixth coach over the summer, replacing the program's winningest coach in Jenny Knight-Kenesie. Yorg is no stranger to the GLVC having served as the associate head coach at Maryville University from 2008-2013. Maryville posted a 76-64 record in that span, winning the GLVC West Division crown last season in the Saints' fourth year as a Division II program.

Also joining the program is top assistant Jordan Wilde. Wilde previously served in a similar capacity at NAIA Ashford University in Iowa.

Former UW-Parkside standouts Brittany Beyer and Jadee Rooney will both patrol the bench as well. Beyer served as a student assistant last season after concluding her career in 2012 while Rooney joins the Ranger staff after spending the summer dominating the Big V League in Australia as a member of the Ringwood Hawks.